CASTING DOUBT ON THE NATURE AND MEANING OF GOD’S LAW
It is sad for me to have to add Tim Keller to the list of Christian leaders we can no longer trust to defend either the gospel or biblical truth.
—Phil Congdon, Senior Pastor, New Braunfels Bible Church, New Braunfels, Texas—
Key point: Tim Keller, the revered pastor who planted, led, and grew a large church in New York City many consider to be conservative and evangelical, recently passed away. Although Keller has been widely praised, I fear his influence actually is helping to redefine the terms conservative and evangelical. While Keller has had a reputation of being both conservative and evangelical, in fact he repeatedly undermined Scripture and Christianity. This post cites statements from Keller about the nature and meaning of God’s law as evidence. These are not tertiary or even secondary issues in the Christian faith — but primary ones.
All of the articles in this series are accessible from this page.
Last time, in our introduction to this series, we examined an exchange between Tim Keller and Conversations That Matter podcaster Jon Harris in which Keller was difficult to pin down about his beliefs about Marxism and Marxist principles. The exchange began when Jon posted this statement from Keller on Twitter:
The people I read who were the disciples of Marx were not villains. They were not fools. They cared about people. . . there are vast populations . . . where there’s no upward mobility. See, the people who read Marx said, ‘We have to do something about this.’
Keller’s response was evasive and even implied that Marxism probably does align with biblical teachings: Keller tweeted,
Yep. Talking about oppression, justice, etc doesn’t make one a Marxist. It makes one a student of the Bible.
You can read my full assessment of the exchange that ensued between Keller and Harris here, but please don’t miss my main point: Tim Keller was an expert at playing conversational “dodgeball.” His practice of promoting unbiblical ideas by
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- refusing to refute them outright and by
- making statements that tilt in favor of ambiguity or compromise
was harmful. In fact — sadly — this is Keller’s legacy, one that will continue to cause spiritual damage for many years to come. I hope to mitigate the damage with this series of articles. While my influence is small, I will use the influence I have to push back against Keller’s false teachings.
Tim Keller’s practice of promoting unbiblical ideas by refusing to refute them outright and by making statements that tilt in favor of ambiguity or compromise was harmful. In fact — sadly — this is Keller’s legacy, one that will continue to cause spiritual damage for many years to come.
In this post, we will examine several of Keller’s statements relating to God’s law. Take note at the outset that these are issues that are at the heart of Christianity and Christian teaching.
Muddying the Water with Regard to the Nature of God’s Law
In a tweet from April 7, 2021, Tim Keller wrote,
No one can prove any moral values to be true—they are in the end all matters of faith. Much of the rage on Twitter is because we are holding others to moral values they don’t own and we can’t prove. Saying “we all know this moral to be true” is not an argument, it’s an assertion that can’t be proven.
No one can prove any moral values to be true—they are in the end all matters of faith. Much of the rage on Twitter is because we are holding others to moral values they don't own and we can't prove. 1/4
— Timothy Keller (1950-2023) (@timkellernyc) April 1, 2021
Was Tim Keller totally unfamiliar with passages like Psalm 19:1-4 and Romans 18:1-23? Nature itself testifies to the existence of God and “his attributes,” and it does so with such clarity that people are “without excuse” for their defiant behavior against Him, His clear design for humanity, and His laws. And in Romans 2, Paul speaks of God’s law having been divinely “written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness.”
Well-known defender of the Christian faith, C. S. Lewis, observed,
Whenever you find a man who says he does not believe in a real Right and Wrong, you will find the same man going back on this a moment later. He may break his promise to you, but if you try breaking one to him he will be complaining “It’s not fair” before you can say Jack Robinson. A nation may say treaties do not matter, but then, next minute, they spoil their case by saying that the particular treaty they want to break was an unfair one. But if treaties do not matter, and if there is no such thing as Right and Wrong—in other words, if there is no Law of Nature—what is the difference between a fair treaty and an unfair one? Have they not let the cat out of the bag and shown that, whatever they say, they really know the Law of Nature just like anyone else?
It seems, then, we are forced to believe in a real Right and Wrong. People may be sometimes mistaken about them, just as people sometimes get their sums wrong; but they are not a matter of mere taste and opinion any more than the multiplication table.
I am thankful that the Founding Fathers of the United States understood something that apparently Tim Keller is trying to refute or is ignoring — truths clearly set forth in Psalm 19 and Romans 1.
In America’s Founding document, the Declaration of Independence, our nation’s Founders spoke early of “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.” They also wrote of “truths” and “unalienable rights” that were “self-evident.” In his book Defending The Declaration: How the Bible and Christianity Influenced the Writing of the Declaration of Independence, Gary Amos writes,
Seventeenth-century Enlightenment rationalists did not coin the term “self-evident.” Medieval theologians used the term centuries earlier, tracing their views of “self evident” to the teachings of St. John of Damascus (d. 749)…. John was the last of the Greek fathers and the first theological encyclopedist. “Self-evident” knowledge for the medievalists was that which was “naturally implanted” in men, such as “first principles.” It was truth known intuitively, as a direct revelation from God, without the need of proofs. The term presumed that man was created in the image of God, and presumed certain beliefs about man’s rationality which traced as far back as Augustine in the early fifth century.…
[Going back even earlier, t]he writings of the Apostle Paul in Romans 1 and 2 are the Biblical source for the Christian belief about self-evident truth.1
But wait! someone may say. Even if certain truths and rights are self-evident, what does that have to do with moral principles? Actually, a lot! Rights are so deeply rooted in moral commands that moral commands define them! This is especially true of the Ten Commandments; learn how closely rights and moral principles are intertwined in this one-page article titled “How Liberty Works.” Unalienable rights cannot be self-evident if the moral laws that undergird them aren’t also self-evident.
Unalienable rights cannot be self-evident if the moral laws that undergird them aren’t also self-evident.
Rather than claiming that moral principles can’t be proved, Tim Keller should have been emphasizing that at least some moral principles are self-evident and therefore need no proof. It isn’t only the uniqueness of human beings that bears this out (the reality that human beings are made in God’s image), but also God’s perfect design for humanity as revealed in nature itself (go here for an article about transgenderism, and here for one about same-sex marriage).
To be fair, in 2013 Keller explicitly stated he did not support the legalization of same-sex marriage. Yet he did so to clarify another statement he had made that left the impression among some that he just might support it. He previously had said,
You can believe homosexuality is a sin and still believe that same-sex marriage should be legal.
I will accept at face value Tim Keller’s claim that he did not support the legalization of same-sex marriage. However, the above statement represents a complete failure to recognize the importance of marriage to individuals, the church, and society — and a failure to understand the absolute need for the church to help people comprehend both the social and spiritual perils that will and do arise when government and society redefine marriage.
Any spiritual leader who effectively gives Christians permission to support the legalization of same-sex marriage (as Tim Keller did) is unfit to be a pastor or Christian leader of any kind.
Anyone who believes “homosexuality is a sin and still believe[s] that same-sex marriage should be legal” doesn’t really understand sin, homosexuality, marriage, children, parenting, or the importance of marriage to individuals and to society at large. Moreover, any spiritual leader who effectively gives Christians permission to support the legalization of same-sex marriage (as Tim Keller did) is unfit to be a pastor or Christian leader of any kind. In a subsequent post in this series, we will consider several problematic statements Keller made about homosexuality. In the New International Version (NIV), Hebrews 13:4 declares, “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.”
A Word Foundations series of articles explores the reality that “Upholding God-Ordained Marriage Is One of the Greatest Ways to Uphold the Gospel.” It contends that despite potential misunderstanding and controversy, lovingly yet forthrightly upholding biblical marriage enhances rather than inhibits a church’s efforts to share the gospel.
Casting Doubt on Obedience
Muddying the water further with regard to a Christians’ duty to obey God’s laws, Keller actually tweeted, “You can run from God either by breaking his rules or by keeping them.” What?!? Deuteronomy 30:19-20, John 14:15, and 1 John 2:4-6 refute Keller on this, but I suspect that many have read it and view it as insightful. They are delighted to hear a Christian pastor “push the envelope.”
Keller’s statement, if it can be defended or explained at all, needs a ton of clarification. I really can’t imagine any defense or explanation that would carry any weight at all. As smart as he was, Keller should have anticipated this and never tweeted this out in the first place. But here it is, misleading people anyway.
In context, Keller apparently probably tweeted this:
You can run from God either by breaking His rules, or by keeping them.The former says God doesn’t own me.The latter says God owes me. Keller
You can run from God either by breaking His rules, or by keeping them.The former says God doesn't own me.The latter says God owes me. Keller
— Scotty Smith (@ScottyWardSmith) June 5, 2013
The only way I can see how obedience says “God owes me” is if obedience is prideful, or Pharisaical. Prideful “obedience,” however, isn’t obedience at all. Can’t you see how confusing this has to be to some people? Why not uphold instead what Jesus Himself said rather than making a statement that confuses the issue?
More to Come…
Next time, we’ll talk about Keller’s leftist politics, which he espoused even as he claimed to be apolitical.
It’s a discussion you won’t want to miss.
Copyright © 2023 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.
This article is available for publication and distribution by Exposing enemies within the church, LLC.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture has been taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Scripture quotation designated NIV is from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Notes:
1Gary Amos, Defending the Declaration: How the Bible and Christianity Influenced the Writing of the Declaration of Independence, (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth and Hyatt, 1989), 77-78.
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